On the evening of 8 March 2026, 聽opened its doors for the thirteenth consecutive year to host an interfaith iftar, bringing together members of the Jewish and Muslim communities in a spirit of friendship, hope, and shared humanity. This year鈥檚 gathering, themed 鈥淔inding Light in the Darkness,鈥 resonated deeply with guests navigating a world marked by rising tensions and polarisation. Rabbi Colin Eimer and Dr Daryoush Mohammad Poor delivered reflections that wove together insights from their respective traditions, offering pathways toward understanding and resilience.
Thirteen years of Jewish鈥揗uslim friendship
In welcoming guests, Dr Mohammad Poor reflected on the significance of the milestone. 鈥淭hirteen years of coming together to talk, to study, and to eat鈥攖hat is already a kind of light in the world,鈥 he observed. For him, the friendships cultivated through these gatherings represent not a by-product of the evening but its 鈥渄eepest purpose.鈥
The theme proved timely. Both speakers acknowledged the challenges facing their communities: rising Islamophobia and antisemitism, images of conflict that 鈥渨ound us daily,鈥 and the internal struggles that arise when fear hardens into suspicion or grief into bitterness.
Becoming 鈥淟ittle Lamps for One Another鈥
Drawing on the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍鈥檚 luminous imagery鈥斺God is the Light of the heavens and the earth鈥濃擠r Mohammad Poor invited participants to consider themselves as 鈥渓ittle niches for light.鈥 He recalled how the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍Muslims believe that the Holy 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 contains divine revelations to the Prophet Muhammed received in Mecca and Medina over a period of 23 years in the early 7th century CE. More depicts divine light dwelling within a niche containing a lamp, the lamp enclosed in glass shining like a star. 鈥淒ivine light does not just shine somewhere out there,鈥 he explained. 鈥淚t needs niches and lamps鈥攑laces where it can be received, reflected, protected.鈥
This image found resonance in Rabbi Eimer鈥檚 reflections on Jewish mystical tradition, where sparks of divine light became trapped in the material world at the moment of creation. 鈥淥ur task is to find those shards and release them,鈥 he said, 鈥渓etting divine light flood the world.鈥
Choosing Life: A Call from Two Traditions
Rabbi Eimer introduced the thought of Miguel de Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher who, in 1936, stood against a Francoist general鈥檚 cry of 鈥淟ong live death!鈥 with a principled defence of life and reason. Drawing on psychoanalyst Erich Fromm鈥檚 concepts of 鈥渂iophile鈥 (lover of life) and 鈥渘ecrophile鈥 (lover of death), Rabbi Eimer framed the fundamental human choice: 鈥淪ee, I put before you today life and death, good and evil, blessing and curse鈥攖herefore choose life.鈥
The Hebrew phrase u鈥檝a鈥檆harta ba鈥檆hayyim, he noted, means not simply to choose life but to 鈥渃hoose into life鈥濃攁n active, engaged commitment rather than passive observation.
Dr Mohammad Poor echoed this call through the lens of hope. Citing His late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, the 49th Imam of the Shi鈥檌 Ismaili Muslims, he described hope as 鈥渢he trampoline of progress鈥攁 force that pushes us up even when gravity seems to pull everything down.鈥 Hope, he emphasised, is not naive optimism but a discipline: 鈥渢he decision, again and again, not to surrender to despair.鈥
The Power of Continued Meeting
Both speakers emphasised that light emerges through sustained relationship. Dr Mohammad Poor quoted the Persian poet Rumi: 鈥淭he lamps are different, but the Light is the same.鈥 He reflected that Muslims and Jews may hold different lamps 鈥渄ifferent rituals, different sacred languages, different historical memories鈥 but the light calling both communities to compassion, justice, and mercy 鈥渋s of one source.鈥
The evening concluded with a practical invitation: before leaving, each guest was encouraged to seek out someone from the other community and ask a simple question 鈥淗ow has this last year felt for you?鈥 – and then listen, not to reply, but to understand.
As Dr Mohammad Poor noted, this Iftar represents 鈥渁 small, stubborn piece of evidence against the story that Jews and Muslims must be enemies.鈥 In an era of division, Alyth鈥檚 annual gathering demonstrates that choosing life, friendship, and hope remains possible鈥攐ne lamp at a time.
